Ugarte
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 360
- Location
- Eastern New Mexico
Please forgive my long-windedness. It's late and I should really be in bed by now.
As a new hat shopper who is anxious to put together a suitable wardrobe, but not wealthy enough to just go out and buy whatever I want, I'm struggling with some questions.
Given the realities I'm dealing with, it seems to me that I can come a little closer to what I'm after if I make some informed choices. I'm sure I have options, but they will inevitably require compromises. For my first hat, I dove in with both feet and bought the Akubra Federation. It came in the right color and the price was not at all unreasonable. I did not buy the Federation Deluxe because the color wasn't right (no dark grey) and the price was just a bit higher. I'm sure the felt of the Deluxe is worth the cost, but the Federation seemed, well, more than adequate for a first hat.
Now, I find myself terribly interested in a brown fedora. Having no access to a shop where I can lay hands on an affordable (< $100) fedora nearby (or at all as near as I can tell), I have perused OFAS extensively for a few days now. I may be onto a winner -- the right hat in the right material and color for the right money -- but it's been frustrating. Most of what I'm finding out there for not much money are wool felt hats that look fine in a picture and seem to meet the specs in terms of size, brim, crown, etc., but may or may not be worth having.
I am also tempted to post up a WTB in the classifieds here on the Fedora Lounge, but it seems folks here tend to keep what they have because they like it, or auction it off when they decide they don't. For some reason, I'm just not quite sure how to approach a classified to solicit the purchase of a really nice size 7 1/4 fedora that folks just don't want kicking around their closet anymore (the enormous generosity of deanglen excepted).
I have a vague understanding that an inexpensive wool felt hat that isn't terribly dense is likely to have issues holding shape and generally looking presentable over a number of years. I only wear a hat on occasion but I understand that a hat, like any other piece of one's ensemble, should be the highest quality one can manage in order to make a favorable presentation. But how many of you have hats that you are happy with that are not really top-of-the-line lids? Is it advisable to even risk throwing money at, say a "Super Indiana Jones", or a modestly priced hat that seems to fit the bill but isn't fur at all?
Just asking.
Mark
As a new hat shopper who is anxious to put together a suitable wardrobe, but not wealthy enough to just go out and buy whatever I want, I'm struggling with some questions.
Given the realities I'm dealing with, it seems to me that I can come a little closer to what I'm after if I make some informed choices. I'm sure I have options, but they will inevitably require compromises. For my first hat, I dove in with both feet and bought the Akubra Federation. It came in the right color and the price was not at all unreasonable. I did not buy the Federation Deluxe because the color wasn't right (no dark grey) and the price was just a bit higher. I'm sure the felt of the Deluxe is worth the cost, but the Federation seemed, well, more than adequate for a first hat.
Now, I find myself terribly interested in a brown fedora. Having no access to a shop where I can lay hands on an affordable (< $100) fedora nearby (or at all as near as I can tell), I have perused OFAS extensively for a few days now. I may be onto a winner -- the right hat in the right material and color for the right money -- but it's been frustrating. Most of what I'm finding out there for not much money are wool felt hats that look fine in a picture and seem to meet the specs in terms of size, brim, crown, etc., but may or may not be worth having.
I am also tempted to post up a WTB in the classifieds here on the Fedora Lounge, but it seems folks here tend to keep what they have because they like it, or auction it off when they decide they don't. For some reason, I'm just not quite sure how to approach a classified to solicit the purchase of a really nice size 7 1/4 fedora that folks just don't want kicking around their closet anymore (the enormous generosity of deanglen excepted).
I have a vague understanding that an inexpensive wool felt hat that isn't terribly dense is likely to have issues holding shape and generally looking presentable over a number of years. I only wear a hat on occasion but I understand that a hat, like any other piece of one's ensemble, should be the highest quality one can manage in order to make a favorable presentation. But how many of you have hats that you are happy with that are not really top-of-the-line lids? Is it advisable to even risk throwing money at, say a "Super Indiana Jones", or a modestly priced hat that seems to fit the bill but isn't fur at all?
Just asking.
Mark
